


Love Through Eternity

by NonbinaryFaerie



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, I mean she's undead but that's still better than full-dead, Lisa lives AU, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reincarnation, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Trans Female Character, Vampire Lisa, blood drinking as a family bonding activity, debatable levels of cannibalism, lots of dhampir lore I just made up, trans lisa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-08-13 01:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20165653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NonbinaryFaerie/pseuds/NonbinaryFaerie
Summary: Her soulmark is not the only deciding factor in Lisa consenting to be Turned, but it certainly is a large part of it. It had not occurred to Vlad that, with their souls bound together, his soulmate could not truly move on from this world so long as he remained.Eventually, their child(ren) will have to face the same dilemma. With two soulmarks, Adrian can only hope that it means he'll find twice the love without twice the heartbreak. (But first he needs to deal with all the complications that come with his mother becoming his father's fledgling)





	1. Lisa Finds Love and Kicks Ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing can stop Lisa from having both a loving family and changing the world. Not time, not the church, not even death itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This here first chapter is Lisa focused, next chapter will be Adrian and his mysterious double soulmarks (gosh I wonder who his soulmates are???)
> 
> Warnings: brief mention of past transphobia, allusions to sex/Vlad's butt, a touch of physical violence, and the church.

Her soulmark is not the only deciding factor in Lisa consenting to be Turned, but it certainly is a large part of it. 

Vlad did not recognize his long lost lover when she stood before him and demanded to be taught medicine. Ever since Elisabetha had died, he avoided looking at his faded soulmark. It had not occurred to him that, with their souls bound together, she could not truly move on from this world so long as he remained. 

Of course he notices similarities. Lisa looks very much like Elisabetha. She has the same mischievous grin, the same thick blonde hair that became unruly when unattended to. She takes to learning with the same enthusiasm. 

However, he pushed these observations from his mind as quickly as they came. He thought it a disservice to both women; Lisa is not a replacement for Elisabetha. He loves her as her own person. 

For it is obvious that they are different people. Where Elisabetha had been sheltered and trained to be a noble girl from birth, Lisa was raised in a middle-of-nowhere village by people who insisted that she was a boy. A significant amount of Elisabetha's optimistic belief in humans was innocent ignorance, but Lisa? Lisa has seen humanity at its worst. She traveled on her own with only her feet to carry her and a knife to protect her. She had to fight to realize and stay her true self. She had experienced all the cruelty that her society had to offer and only become more stubborn. Her compassion was not a privilege but a _ rebellion. _

Where Vlad had dismissed humanity as a lost cause, Lisa refuses to give up on believing that they can be better. When he asked her why, she said, "humans are social animals, we learn how to treat each other based on how we're treated," while aggressively tapping the text on evolution for emphasis. "I wasn't born knowing how to be patient and kind any more than I knew how to speak or read. I had to _ learn _ how to be more than a scared and ignorant person. If I can teach that to more people, eventually society at large will change." 

_ You are stronger than I can ever be_, he thought, but out loud he said, "that will take more time and consistent influence than one human has. Do you intend to sacrifice your mortality for your cause?" 

Lisa's breath hitched. Temptation for the power to see her goal to the end and the fear that this power would corrupt her as a person conflicted in her eyes. She eventually shook her head and laughed, "is this a test? I can't claim to be perfect, that I've never been cruel or selfish myself." 

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I can hardly make that claim either," he said as he gestured at his scientific journals bound in human leather. 

There must have been something humorous about his casual and deadpan tone, because she only laughed more at that. 

So he pushed the wife of hundreds of years ago from his mind just as stubbornly as he ignored the growing soulmark on Lisa's shoulder. Because it could not possibly be growing for him, and he refused to let jealousy tarnish their relationship. Whoever she was seeing made her happy and that is what was important. 

Until he tried to tell her this. 

Even hidden under her anger, Lisa's hurt was evident in the slight shake in her voice and the shine in her eyes. "How can you be one of the greatest scientists of our age yet be so _ oblivious?" _She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her mark in an intimate touch which he would never dare initiate. 

To his astonishment, the blooming flowers of her mark shifted towards his fingers as though turning to face the sun. It was faint in the well lit library, but he could see the whole image glowing. 

Beneath his many layers of clothing, he could feel his own mark heat in response for the first time in centuries. 

"... oh," was all he could manage. 

"_YOU'RE _my soulmate," she said, just in case he still hadn't caught on. 

"Yes." 

"But I'm not yours, am I?" She did not bother to hide her sadness at this. "Or this wouldn't be so surprising." 

"I…" Vlad struggled to explain himself, "I need a mirror to see my mark." 

"It's on your back?" 

"... lower." 

Which is how he found himself bent over a table, presenting his bare rear to Lisa before he had the chance to properly court her. 

Days later, Death confirmed the only explanation they could come up with as to how his dead mark had reawakened; "Your Lady's soul is the same, Master." 

"It's not that outlandish that it took me so many lives to find you again," Lisa said, "you're a hermit living in a moving castle." 

"I am not a _ hermit," _Vlad protested. 

"When was the last time you went outside, just to talk to people?" 

"..." 

"That's what I thought." 

Decades pass. They marry. They use a combination of magic and science to combine their genetics in a petri dish and grow a child in an incubator. They plan on having more, until they realize how much energy and attention a dhampir child requires, and decide that their firstborn will have to wait for siblings. Becoming Vlad's feeder slows Lisa's aging to a crawl while their son ages so quickly that he can barely eat and drink enough to keep up with his growth spurts. By the time Adrian is fifteen people start mistaking him for her younger brother rather than her son. 

All the while, Vlad's point about changing the world within her lifespan hangs in the back of Lisa's mind. Her dreams have only grown grander over time. She wants to spread the knowledge Vlad gave her to the people. She wants to open schools, hospitals. She wants to give people the resources they need to live so that they don't have to fight each other and work themselves to exhaustion. But even with her life extended by her husband's venom, she is still only human. Just balancing her time between her small clinic and her family can be strenuous. 

Another factor she had not considered is that being a doctor and Dracula's wife has made her enemies among humans and vampires alike. It seems there is always _ someone _ who wants her dead. 

Lisa wants the power to change the world and guarantee that she will always be there for her loved ones. Still, doubt nags at her. Is she really just power hungry and fooling herself? Would that power corrupt her, regardless of her good intentions? 

Their soulbond is both a safety net and a complication in all this.

"What has this particular wet slide done to earn your wrath, my love?" 

Lisa blinks and looks up from the microscope she's been giving a nasty look while she thought. Vlad's amusement glimmers through their mental bond. 

"I've been thinking," she starts, and he immediately sits down to listen. "About everything I want to accomplish. About how frustrating it is that there's already one life with you that I cannot remember. Of course I will always come back to you, but having to forget you each time, over and over… I don't want to put us through that." 

"Do you wish for me to Turn you?" There is no judgement in his voice, but he is hiding something. 

She ducks her head, though she knows her self doubt is unnecessary. "I haven't brought it up because some part of me was worried you might think I'm using you." 

Relief breaks out across his face. "And I had not offered for fear that you might think I was disrespecting your independence, or insulting your pride in being human." He takes her hands in his and kisses her knuckles. "Lisa, my love, I could never deny nor judge your desires." 

Her faces pinkens slightly, as the last time he had said something along those lines it was when she had suggested trying something _ a little different _ in their bedroom. Grinning, she climbs into his lap so that she can embrace her ridiculously tall husband properly. "Thank you, my love. I know this is no small thing to ask." 

"Indeed. I could not trust anyone outside our family with such power." That is no exaggeration. A Sire had much influence over their fledglings but that connection was a two way street. He had purposely avoided being on either end of such a connection. Matthias Turned himself through alchemy and Vlad had yet to ever Turn his own fledgling. 

(Vlad had told her of the only other person he had ever offered to share his immortality with, of how Leon had instead cursed him and sworn his Clan would bring down Dracula. He refused to acknowledge Leon as a second soulmate despite the partnership he had with him when he was still the human Matthias. The image of a small whip curled on his back over his heart was only a mark of that vengeful oath and nothing more. It was after all, positioned like a target for staking him in the back.)

But now he has a partner both worthy and willing to face eternity with him. 

* * *

The priests truly do have the worst possible timing. 

"I'll only need to rest for a few minutes," Adrian said. "You aren't expecting any more patients this evening," he said. "You know it's important that you feed before your thirst becomes too much," he said. 

"Would you have told me to hold off on feeding for convenience sake when I was young?" her son asked her.

No, of course she wouldn't! When did he learn to out-argue her? 

Which is how Adrian ended up on a cot in the back room, doped to hell and back on her venom to help him recover from giving her blood. 

But those fifteen minutes or so that he's out cold is when the church investigators come knocking. 

"It's rude to barge your way into someone's home," Lisa says when one of them tries to push past her. She stands firm in the doorway to block their entry with little effort. "I can help you, but you must be civil about it." 

The men are clearly baffled at encountering a woman they cannot bully and shove about. 

"You have no right to impede us-" the bishop fumes at her and she tunes out the rest of his rant to consider what to do with them. She would rather not use violence but they clearly won't leave until they are satisfied that she is a devout Christian who would never even think about science. If she doesn't give them an answer they will only come back with reinforcements. 

"Ask nicely." 

The bishop sputters, _ "Excuse _me?" 

"Say please, and I may let you in," she says with the same tone of voice she used with Adrian when he was a child throwing tantrums (and still uses with the vampire generals doing the same). 

"I don't have to do anything of the sort -" 

"May we please enter your home?" one of the goons grits out so that the Bishop doesn't have to. 

Lisa smiles. "Well, at least one of you has some manners. Wipe your feet at the door and sit down at the table. I've still got some warm tea after my last patient." She steps aside just enough that they can enter one at a time. 

The Bishop looks absolutely furious at having to act with any sort of basic human decency. Still, he just _ has _ to be the first to go through and does so in a slow, dignified manner. The rest of the clergymen can clearly sense that something is _ off _ about her, giving her uncomfortable glances as they pass. 

When they have all filed through, Lisa isn't subtle about locking the door. They aren’t leaving until she knows they will leave for good.

"Spread out, you know what to look for." 

She really shouldn't be surprised that the priests' method of searching involved dumping everything they found on the floor.

"If you're looking for something, you can simply ask. I'll gladly help you," she says with as much calm as she can muster. Even after feeding, she can feel her temper rising at the sight of strangers breaking and rifling through her things. 

They continue emptying drawers and trying to open the locked door to the lab. 

Breathing exercises are not enough to rein in her heightened temper. Her vision tinges red, a priest finally breaks down the door, and all she can think about is that they are getting ever closer to her defenseless son. Without making a conscious decision she speeds across the room and grabs the intruder's arm in a bone-crushing grip. The priest cries out in pain. Lisa tosses him back as though he weighs nothing. 

"_Stay out," _she hisses. 

"Witch! You would dare lay a hand on a man of G -" the Bishop cuts off when she turns and locks eyes with him. 

The bloodlust she's been so desperately learning to control screams for her to keep going, to tear them all apart and drain them dry. The still rational part of her knows that the church will be even more suspicious if the priests they sent to collect her disappear. 

"I am not a witch. You searched my entire clinic and found nothing. Return to those who sent you and tell them this." 

Her attempt at a thrall is not enough. She's still too young a fledgling, still developing her powers. 

"What …" he breaks eye contact and shakes his head to clear it. "Don't be absurd. Restrain her! We're taking Satan's bride to Targoviste before she can spread her evil any further." 

The priests' hearts race in fear but they still rush at her and Lisa's control 

_ Snaps. _

  
The scent of their blood fills her head and she is _ lost _ to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note that there will be some (debatably comedic) gore in the next chapter, but I'll warn for it so you can just read the bit with young Adrian being a sweetheart if you so choose. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Any/all comments are appreciated and I always respond! Have a nice day!!


	2. Adrian Researches Plant Symbolism And Has A Moral Crisis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1st section: It is a universal constant that Adrian can't go to sleep without one of his parents killing someone.  
2nd section: flashback to young Adrian talking about his soulmarks, so at least part of this chapter is cute?  
3rd section: baby need SNACK!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments, I reread them all the time when I need motivation/to cheer up! <3
> 
> Warnings: off screen/implied violence and the resulting gore (1st section), mentions of disordered eating patterns/binge eating and the consumption of human blood/flesh (3rd section). (As always, if there's something you think I should add a warning for, please let me know!)

Adrian wakes slowly from his venom induced coma. 

The first thing he's aware of is the warmth of the weighted blanket tossed over him. The second is that something is _ wrong_. His mental bond with his mother feels turbulent and his fangs ache in a way that is all too familiar. 

He sits up in alarm and nearly swoons right back down. Perhaps (and he will never admit to this) he should not have given his mother quite that much blood. It is difficult to regret it though; it will be at least another day before his father is home and he knows how much it pains her to care for her patients while fighting her thirst. 

With care, he manages to strategically fall towards the door frame and catch himself on the knob. _ Congratulations, _ he tells himself, _ you're doing an excellent impression of the town drunk. _ It would seem that the intoxicating effects of his mother's venom had yet to completely wear off. 

The smell of blood waps him in the face when he opens the door to the lab and his stomach has the audacity to growl at him. Which is definitely because vampire venom stimulates hunger in order to help regenerate blood. Not at all because his dual nature gets his various needs mixed up. That would be embarrassing. 

_ Focus_, he needed to focus. The clinic should not have this much blood spilt in it unless there's something wrong. Either there's been an accident in the village and his mother will need all the help she can get, or …

Adrian wobbles his way across the lab by leaning on the counter, finds the door to the front room broken on its hinges, and bursts through to find absolute _ carnage_. 

Blood and gore decorate every surface. Torn priests' robes and equally torn priests are scattered about the room. Many of the cabinets and drawers have been emptied and their contents smashed. 

In the middle of it all, Doctor Lisa Tepes kneels on the floor, her eyes glowing the same red as the blood that coats her head to toe. The sprawling pattern of her soulmark on her neck is barely visible under it all. Tears have rinsed off trails of it from her cheeks, but her face is expressionless. 

The combination of horror and thirst makes him dizzy. Never in his life has he lost control to this extent, the thought of disappointing his mother often what brought him back from the edge. _ How could you? _ he wants to ask. Yet there is a significant part of him that wants nothing more than to dive in to take her leftovers. 

"M- mum," and he has not called her that since he was a toddler, "mother, what -" he crawls through the mess to reach her, too shaken to stay upright. He takes her hands and finds strips of flesh under her claws. "What _ happened?_" 

She finally stirs from her trance and looks up at him. "... Adrian? Wh…" Her eyes widen. "Oh god, Adrian, are you alright? Did they find you?" 

"What? No, mother I'm not the one bathed in blood!" It comes out harsher than he meant. He ought to be more understanding, more worried about her. 

"Oh…" her hand freezes midair where she was going to touch his cheek. Fresh tears beginning to well in her eyes as she stares at it. She touches her mouth to find her fangs still extended and blood soaking her skin. "Oh no… oh _ no._" She curls into herself and shudders. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have -" he stops, trying to pull his thoughts together. "I should have been here to hold you back, that's my _ job _ right now, it's why I'm staying with you. You _ know _ that." 

"But it's my fault that you couldn't, and my fault they were here for us in the first place." 

It's not hard to put the pieces together; the church has no love for those who practice science. 

"I couldn't make them leave," she continues, "and they broke into the lab, they would have _ found _you…" 

Adrian inhales sharply (which does not at all help his thirst). For all the church's faults, half-measures were not one of them. They know it is easier for a brave few to risk their lives standing up to the church, but not the lives of others. Too, they know that they make enemies when they execute rebels. 

Their usual solution is to first kill the person's family, to make them _ watch _ as their loved ones die. It gives the citizens excellent examples of why they should stay obedient, and gets rid of the people most likely to plot revenge. 

Even if they didn't know that he's also a trained doctor (and a dhampir to boot), they would have done their best to kill him in his sleep for the crime of being her son. They might not have succeeded, of course, but they could have done serious damage. 

"I understand," he says, pulling her into an embrace, "Are _ you _ alright? They weren't armed?" 

"No, no I don't think they even had holy water." She huffs, sitting back up. "I'm sorry you have to see me like this." 

"It's fine." It is not fine. He squeezes her shoulder. "It'll be fine, but we need to clean up." 

"And figure out what to do when people realise these," she gestures at the various body parts, as though she's reluctant to say out loud that they were once living humans, "have gone missing." 

"Father should be home before that happens. I'm sure he'll be able to…" Adrian's mind races, "wipe the people's memories? I don't know." 

"That might be necessary to stop the church from sending more people after us but… with the regular townspeople…" She gives the room a thoughtful look. "This could be passed off as an animal attack. Even those who think I'm evil still think I'm human." 

"True…" The speed with which his mother is collecting herself after killing people shouldn't be as surprising or unsettling as it is. He just never expected to hear her plan how to get away with murder. 

"Yes, I can take them out into the woods… between here and the town, as though they were on their way back…" she seems to be muttering more to herself than Adrian at this point. 

"I think it would be wiser for you to wash yourself and let me do the evidence planting. You're a bit conspicuous right now, mother." 

She looks down at herself. "This would be rather difficult to explain if I run into someone on the way, wouldn't it?" 

"Indeed." 

She huffs out a small laugh. "You're sure you'll be alright?" 

Adrian nods. "So long as you keep the doors locked and don't let anyone else in." 

While his mother rinses the worst of the mess off herself in the laboratory's emergency washing station, Adrian gathers as much of the priests' remains as he can into a bag meant for disposing of biohazardous materials. By now he's quite covered in blood himself. 

He slips out the back door and through the garden into the forest. Once hidden in the safety of the tree line he pauses to listen for possible witnesses. He doesn't hear any human heartbeats or sense nearby magical creatures, so he continues making his way through the forest. 

* * *

As a child, Adrian hadn’t realised that having two soulmarks was unusual. Even more so that they were positioned exactly symmetrical, one on the back of each hand. 

He thought a lot about what his soulmates would be like, how he might meet them. A vampire at a court ball? A human lost in the woods? Another creature entirely? (A fellow dhampir was next to impossible, seeing as he was the only known one to survive past the age of roughly five years so far). 

The idea of having people outside his family who were guaranteed to accept him for who he was was incredibly appealing to Adrian. For his safety, he had little contact with the human world, and he had to be vigilant around the ambitious vampire court. Making friends was very difficult for him.

The tiny blue flower on his right hand is generic enough that he had difficulty identifying it by the illustrations in books. It was when he was pulling weeds in his mother’s garden that he found a match. 

They hadn’t been planted there on purpose, but he didn’t like to pick the little flowers that sprung from the leftover dirt caught between the cobblestones. Unlike the weeds that would eventually take over the garden if left unchecked, these flowers didn’t choke out the other plants. They stuck to the walking paths and the edges of flowerbeds. Harmless. 

Despite their delicate appearance, they were next to impossible to squish even when stepped on. He liked to gently press down on them and watch in amazement as the wiry stems popped back up, and after a while of having them right next to his mark he realised that they had the _ exact _same shape and size. Not the right colour, as they were various shades of pink and white, but perhaps they were related? 

Adrian snapped off a small sprig of it to ask his parents to help him identify it. 

“Periwinkle,” his father called it, confused as to why a common flower was a serious matter all of a sudden. 

“They come in shades of purple and blue as well,” his mother added with a smile, because she was still young enough to remember the excitement of researching a soulmark, “you remember the ones growing from that church windowsill?” 

He did remember, blue flowers spilling out from underneath a stained glass image of Mary. For fairly obvious reasons, he had never gotten close enough to compare them to his mark. 

If he were not a young child in the presence of his parents at the time he would have sworn. “That doesn’t mean they’ll be nun, does it? I think that level of devotion to the church would be… a problem.” 

Lisa was tempted to go off on a spiel about forced conversions and how gender factored into christian politics, but saved that for another day. Instead she laughed and said, “No dear, that’s not how soulmark symbolism works. There are plenty of associations with periwinkles besides the debatably virginal mother.” 

“One of them being love through eternity,” his father said in a manner meant to be casual, but Adrian could tell that his parents were about to start being sappy and poetic at each other and he should give them some space. 

Now that he had a name for the flower, it was only a matter of combing through every book on flower symbolism he could get his hands on. Blossoming friendship, reminiscing about pleasant memories, realising one’s full potential and indeed, everlasting love. The plant’s literal endurance was still the first thing to come to mind for him. 

By comparison, the pine cone on his left hand was fairly easy to identify. There weren't as many associations that he could find, though, and what he did find was more general. Dense coniferous forests had a reputation of being shadowy and impenetrable, and were thus the setting for many spooky fairy tales. In Greece, pine was once considered especially sacred to Dionysus. Adrian wasn’t sure what to make of his soulmate’s potential connection to the Greek god of wine, although it did lead him down a rabbit hole of research that turned out to be strangely interesting. He hadn’t known that Dionysus had once also been a god of death/rebirth and defying social rules. 

It was shortly after his tenth birthday that he awakened to a horrible, searing pain on his left hand. Painkillers and ice did nothing to soothe the burn. It slowly receded over the course of a few hours leaving no physical evidence of injury. The only hint as to what caused it was that the pain had radiated out from his soulmark, which seemed different in a way Adrian’s exhausted mind couldn’t immediately place. 

The pine cone’s scales had previously been shut tight. Now they had spread open like a blooming flower, and it baffled him. He hadn’t met anyone new recently, nor did he have growing feelings for anyone he knew already. 

“I’ve seen these after forest fires,” his father said, “see how it is slightly singed? It’s pyriscence, or fire-mediated serotiny.” At Adrian’s confused look, he elaborated, “some plants have evolved so that they only release their seeds after a specific environmental trigger. Fires clear out undergrowth and leaf litter and leave behind a nutritious ash bed, giving seedlings a better chance for survival.” 

“Oh…” Adrian had a worried frown. “But what does that mean for my soulmate?” 

If Vlad were the kind of man to sugarcoat things, he might have suggested that perhaps the soulmate was a plant-related creature, like a forest nymph. Instead he admitted, “I don’t know, Adrian.” He placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But remember that so long as a mark does not fade, the corresponding soulmate is still alive.” 

* * *

By now his thirst pounds through him like the world's worst head cold. Pain radiates from his fangs and venom glands as a sinus headache until his entire head throbs. His body aches like he has a fever but he's chilled to the bone. Usually by this point his digestive system would shut down to save his remaining blood for more vital organs, but the after effects of the venom urge him to eat and make up for the energy he's lost. Hunger and thirst roll into one until he can barely think about his goal of creating a fake murder scene. 

It's absurd, but Adrian has to keep reminding himself that his mother didn't bring him fresh-kill to eat. They aren't cats for fucks sake! 

He finally gives up and just drops the bag. Here will have to do. It's not like Wallachia has professional detectives, he can just toss the body parts haphazardly about and hope that the villagers are too horrified to question how little blood there is. He'll hunt down an animal to tide him over until his father returns and go home like a good little dhampir. 

At least, that was his plan until the bag opens. His knees give out and he has to shut his eyes against the sudden uptick of pain in his head. The bodies are going cold but the smell is still so strong that he can practically _ taste _ their lingering fear. 

Adrian gathers his rapidly splintering control and grabs the first thing he can - a dismembered arm - just long enough to hurl it into the bushes. A memory of a child shouting,_ "five second rule!" _ after they had dropped a bit of food flits through his mind. 

"Shut up!" he hisses and smacks himself in the face. A terrible mistake, because as soon as he licks his lips he tastes the blood now smeared there. 

_ Don't you dare- _ he tells himself, but he's already licking his hands clean. But it's only the blood that was already on his skin, so that's fine, right? He would have had to wash it off anyways, a total waste…

Really, all of it was a total waste. They were already dead, it wasn't as though he were hurting anyone. What was another pint or so from their bodies? 

He lurches forward and lets out a loud moan as his teeth finally sink into flesh. Blood doesn't gush out without a heartbeat to push it, but Adrian is desperate enough that he doesn't care. He jerks his fangs back to open the wounds further and seals his mouth to pull that lukewarm blood out himself. 

His mind glazes over. Time slips through his fingers until he's abruptly pulled back to awareness by his own burp forcing his current mouthful out. 

Adrian sits back up and hiccups. He always keeps his belts snug but now they are painfully so. The sloshy heaviness in his stomach gives him a strong hint as to why. 

"God _ dammit,_" he groans and scoots back a bit so he can prop himself up against a tree. 

Vampires absorbed blood almost immediately after swallowing; over feeding made their skin bloated and purple-red. Dhampirs (or at least Adrian) had to wait for the blood to sit in their stomach a while. Usually Adrian counted this as a good thing, as it meant it was next to impossible for him to take a lethal amount of blood by accident. 

Unfortunately, he still had the _ appetite _ of a vampire. One could imagine how these two quirks of his nature frequently conflicted. Over feeding for _ him _ had roughly the same result as chugging liters of warm milk or heavy soup. 

A tortured noise escapes Adrian's throat and his gut echoes the sentiment with twice the volume. 

Frankly, he's surprised there was enough blood left in those body parts to leave him feeling like a bloated tick. Between his mother going feral on them and naturally leaking from being torn apart there really shouldn't have been that much…

He shifts his belts and waistband lower to try and give himself some breathing space. The movement jostles his insides enough to force out another deep belch. It relieves a bit of the pressure but his face heats with shame. Had he really fed so messily that it was just gas making him feel so full? 

_ Disgusting, disgusting, so repulsive and rude, _ his mind chants at him. He almost laughs at his anxiety because out of all the things to latch onto in this situation, it chose his bad table manners. Like this was a fucking dinner party. 

Deeply unhappy gurgling sounds out near constantly from his middle. Adrian very, _ very _ gently rubs at it in the hopes of relaxing his tensed abdominal muscles. Soft hiccups start again and the rhythmic squeezing is not at _ all _ helping. He just wants to crawl into bed with a hot water bottle to soothe the cramps.

There's something off about the blood aftertaste though. It might just be because the blood wasn't as fresh or warm as he preferred, but it felt like something on the tip of his tongue… literally. He swept his mouth and found bits of leftovers. Of meat. 

Adrian looked down at the pile of body parts with dawning realisation. It was hard to tell how much was missing, but the mouth sized holes torn out of the flesh were definitely new. Gas wouldn't feel so heavy inside him. It was raw _ human _ meat filling him up. 

"Oh, fu-_ hic!" _This was a new low for him. His need to both eat and _ feed _ had manifested in plenty of embarrassing ways before, but until now he's never gotten so frenzied as to actually commit cannibalism. 

_ Is it cannibalism if I'm only half human, though? _ he wonders. _ Half-cannibalism?? _

He's not even sure why consuming human flesh is somehow worse than just blood. It just seems more beastly, more vicious. 

“_Hic… hic… hic… hic-UUURRP"_

Adrian can’t help the relieved moan that escapes him after that. It feels like his morally dubious meal is finally starting to settle. He can feel his strength returning as his body absorbs all that lingering life energy, and as the pain ebbs it starts to feel shamefully good. 

He’ll admit that he’s never had an entirely healthy relationship with food, but it’s been years since he gorged himself like this. It was a habit that he literally outgrew. With his aggressive growth spurts over, he has no need (or excuse) to shovel as many calories into his body as he possibly can. But it is _ satisfying _on an instinctual level. 

When he’s sure he can move without bringing the pain roaring back to life, Adrian rolls forward into a crouch and grabs the bottom of the bag so he can just dump out the contents as he stands. He kicks the parts around a bit and decides that’s good enough. 

Folded bag in one hand, bloated midsection cradled in the other hand, Adrian makes his way home. The sky is starting to lighten, which means his mother will be asleep by the time he gets back. He can take a very thorough bath and hopefully by the time she wakes up his stomach will have stopped announcing his mistake to anyone with functional ears. 

At least there was no one around to witness this. With no hunters to analyse the aftermath, Adrian can keep his slip up a secret and do his best to forget it ever happened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrian: boy am I glad there's no hunters around! :)  
*cut to Trevor's POV in next chapter* 
> 
> I was originally gonna include the next scene in this chapter but it's not finished and I really wanted to post Adrian's POV, so you'll have to wait for the full reveal of that dramatic irony. The working title is CSI Wallachia.


End file.
